the thoughts of a surgeon in the notorious province of mpumalanga, south africa. comments on the private and state sector. but mostly my personal journey through surgery.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

exemplary

part of the job is to treat some unsavoury people. sometimes you know what it is they have done. mostly you don't. sometimes you even may make a difference. but mostly you just do your job. after all it is not our part to play judge and jury (and, in our case, executioner). but recently i heard a story from some fellow surgeons about one of their colleagues that i'm sure creates a warm fuzzy feeling in the hearts of all south african surgeons.

i can attest to the fact that after a long night on call your general mood is usually not the best it can be. also it becomes more difficult to see the humour in situations that on a normal day you might be able to laugh off. so when this particular registrar finally wrapped up his post call work and meandered off to his car to go home he was not delighted to find someone busy stealing it. he did what any south african surgeon would want to do in his situation...he shot the guy.

the person in question was, however a surgeon, so his training kicked in. they were already at the hospital so all he needed to do was drag the punctured villain to casualties and get him ready for theater, which is exactly what he did. despite the fact that he was post call, he even took the time to operate the guy himself. i suppose he had the best idea of the tractus of the bullet?

i can just imagine how the post operative ward round went when he presented the case to the prof. how would he have worded it?

"well prof, i shot the guy and then i did a laparotomy. well you always told us we should actively look for work to do if we wanted to get experience."

16 comments:

Hilarious.If YOU need extra work, please take Cupid to the OR and remove that arrow from his back. Despite having been face down for awhile his coloring is still good. I think he will do well.(I may be too sensitive to read medical blogs.)L.A.

drv, in this particular story, when you say perpetrator, exactly who are you referring to?

but seriously, the bullets either get left inside the patient (the usual) or they get placed in a sealed container waiting for the police forensics people to come and fetch it. i even know of one case where they actually did fetch the bullet.

*chuckle* Bongi that comment leads me think you either a) must have a VERY BIG store cupboard for the removed bullets, or b) the leaving of bullets inside a patient suddenly takes on a whole new reason :) (notwithstanding the safety to the patient)

This past winter was extremely cold, and we did indeed get lots of snow. Even my Scandinavian friends complained, so I am not surprised that a South African found it chilly. I hope that you had a nice time, and at least got to go skiing. That is the most popular thing to do in weather like that. As the Scots say: there is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothes. ;-)

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disclaimer

the aim of this blog is to give insight into the mind of a particular surgeon, me. although every story is loosely based on fact, patients have been changed suitably to protect their identity. the opinions expressed are mine alone and are not meant to be considered medical advice or the opinion of any institution.